dgcpaphd

Last year I obtained Citibanks’s Hilton Reserve VISA credit card.

Among other things, the initial terms included two free nights and gold status along with a minimum spend within a three-month period. The annual fee (not waived) was $95.00.

There was no annual spend requirement after meeting the initial spend requirement. There was only the annual fee of $95.00 in exchange for one free night upon renewal of the card and payment of the annual fee. Now a minimum spend of $10,000 has been added.

I use the card only when I stay at Hilton and earn Hilton points, therefore, Hilton and Citibank make money from me during the period, but not $10,000 of spending on this specific card (previously not required).

It was brought to my attention today that the terms for the Hilton Reserve credit card have changed over the past several months with respect to the annual “free” night. The current terms now require a minimum spend of $10,000 annually on the Hilton Reserve card plus pay $95.00 yearly to get the one “free” night, which isn’t really free considering the annual fee for the card and the low value of the Hilton points earned.

Given the new requirement of the $10,000 annual spend on the card, it appears that the card no longer is worth the annual $95.00 renewal fee.

Although I spend many times more than $10,000 annually on credit cards, I do not spend $10,000 on the Hilton Reserve card because of the low value of the points earned with the card together with the recent devaluation of Hilton points by Hilton.

I called Hilton and got nowhere and got no anwers.

I called customer service at Citibank to inquire about the change. Citibank blames Hilton for the change.

Citibank confirmed that the agreement I signed last year does not require a $10,000 spend to get the free night, it merely requires the payment of the $95.00 annual credit card fee. However, the bank agent could not tell me if I am under the new rules or whether I am grand fathered under the rules in effect when I obtained the Hilton Reserve credit card.

The bank agent said the matter to honor the old agreement was up to Hilton regarding the "free" night if spending is less than $10,000 on that specific card.

Given that there are so many other more attractive credit card offers from other banks and other hotel chains that have a smaller annual fee and greater benefits for renewal, am I missing something by not seeing the value of holding the Hilton Reserve credit card?

In short, Hilton introduced the $10,000 annual minimum spend, AFTER I already had the card based on different terms and conditions. There was no mention of a minimum spend to get the supposed “free night” along with a payment of the $95.00 annual fee.

Has anyone else experienced this contradiction?

Does anyone have any ideas?

Has this issue come up already? I have not seen anything on this subject posted in Flyertalk. I did a search but found nothing. Thanks for an answer or suggestions.

Is Hilton where I should seek a solution?

Sorry about this long post. There is a lot of information to cover and I did not want to omit any details that could cause a wrong conclusion.
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SFOPhD

I thought the Citi Reserve card always came with 10k spend requirement for the free annual night. Here are links to early announcements:

http://boardingarea.com/viewfromthew...-reserve-card/
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/23028

Did you get a special T&C or is there a possibility (no offense intended) that you're misremembering the terms from last year?

dgcpaphd

Thank you very much for posting the links relative to the Hilton Reserve card.

Indeed, those links discuss a $10,000 annual spend requirement for the one "free" night.

However, please see this (from my initial post) "Citibank confirmed that the agreement I signed last year does not require a $10,000 spend to get the free night, it merely requires the payment of the $95.00 annual credit card fee. However, the bank agent could not tell me if I am under the new rules or whether I am grand fathered under the rules in effect when I obtained the Hilton Reserve credit card."

Although the agent blamed the change on Hilton, the agent did read to me what is in my file which confirms that the agreement I signed did not have a spending requirement. The agent said she would e-mail a copy of my agreement to me so that I could discuss the change with Hilton.

By the way, I did not take offense at your suggestion that I might have misremembered. How could I be unhappy with someone who furnished me with information that splendidly answered my question?

Thanks for having the material and posting it.

After I get the e-mail from Citibank, I will update my post, assuming the agent e-mails the confirmation and assuming the contract does not discuss a $10,000 spending requirement.
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dw

This is a case of Citi CSRs providing incorrect answers to your inquiries. The renewal free night with this card had the $10,000 per night spend requirement from the time the card was launched last year.

sparksals

dw is right.

DFWsakp

Yes. DW is right.

sdsearch

And given that the $95/annual fee by itself just gives Gold status, most people evaluate the worth purely on that. Obviously, if you are getting Gold or above from your stays, then it doesn't matter. If, OTOH, you don't stay nearly enough annually to get to Gold, then you might still want to evaluate whether Gold perks are worth $95/year for the stays that you do have. (And that, in turn, might depend on which brands you stay at and in which locations: Nice Hiltons with a great breakfast that costs $$ and internet that costs $$ but both free to Gold, that may be worth it with just a few nights a year. All your nights at Hampton Inns or Homewood Suites, not so much...)

jamesteroh

I got the card as soon as it was introduced last year and it had has always had the $10K requirement for the free night. I think the annual fee and $10K spend are very reasonable seeing all the other benefits the card provides

ctbarron

Assuming the OP is correct, I think what Citi suggested is your best course of action. Have Citi provide your T&C's without the $10k annual spend requirement and contact Hilton directly. I have not seen this issue on the Citi/Hilton Reserve cards so it is difficult to predict the outcome. But you lose nothing by trying. Please update us on what the outcome is.

That said, I have followed this card from Day 1 and never saw that offer. It must have been very limited and perhaps, as someone else noted, some special/targeted offer.

The value of the $95 annual fee to me is the Gold benefits, which I no longer qualify for through regular travel.

travelinfoo

The onus is actually on the OP to prove that his T&C had no $10K spend requirement for a free night. He should produce his original T&C and send Citi a copy. That would be end of the issue. When the Reserve card was released, the 10K annual spend -> free weekend night was always touted as part of the package. AFAIK, Citi NEVER had a $95 annual fee + annual free night cert w/o spend and the CS he spoke to was incorrect.

I suspect the OP is remembering incorrectly or did not read his T&C very carefully. OP, look in your T&C and post what it says here about the free night cert requirements.

OP, what does YOUR original copy of the T&C say? All you have to do to prove your point to Citi is to show them your copy of your T&C doesn't say anything about an annual spend. End of issue.

welookgood.com

Even if you just 1 stay for 3-4 nights, isn't having Hilton Gold worth the extra benefits of just $95?

-5th night award free
-Late checkout
-Free gym
-Free Internet
-Free Breakfast

dgcpaphd

Yes, you have listed many valid points and I agree that those items have value.

However, the mystery of the changed Hilton Reserve credit card terms is now solved.

I did not get the e-mail I was promised yesterday that would confirm my "free" night without the minimum spend. Therefore, I put in another call to Citibank this evening.

I explained that I was still waiting for my promised e-mail. It was a different agent but she saw from my file that I had called yesterday and that I had requested confirmation that my account did not require the minimum spend in order to receive the one "free" night anniversary renewal.

She also looked again at my account and read to me what is in my file. She repeated that I did not have the minimum spend requirement (the representative yesterday confirmed the same thing).

The agent also consulted with an account manager while I was on hold. The account manager told her that I was one of the last of the "targeted" customers who got the free night without the minimum spend. All new customers after the targeted offer have the minimum spend.

The agent said that she could not send an e-mail to me confirming what is in my account (yesterday the agent said I would get an e-mail) confirming the zero spend requirement.

As an alternative, the agent said she would request a letter be sent to me confirming that I had been one of Citibank customers "targeted" for the card and that my terms do not include a minimum spend.

As William Shakespeare once said, "All is well that ends well."
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DFWsakp

Well ... Do keep us posted if you really get the night free. I think so far you have not been awarded the night and only received verbal conformation.